More than 50 years ago, a certain graduate in an Italian roadster made a cross-country race against time, love and impending adulthood. Though Alfa Romeo has returned to the U.S. and “The Graduate” is still a classic, a lot has changed in how most new graduates will be using their vehicles to flee...

Whether there will be a balmy El Nino effect or some menacing vortex or other, two things remain relatively certain: The temperature will drop and your vehicle will be affected. There are several items to check to prepare your car for winter and minimize the risk of roadside problems or early morning...

The buyout option at the end of a car lease can be an attractive opportunity or a tool for damage control. The buyout price is set by the leasing company at the beginning of your contract. If you're anticipating extra fees and penalties, buying the car can cut your losses. Or, if market conditions...

Car sales in the U.S. have been rising for seven consecutive years now, and it's denting the value of whatever is currently parked in your garage or driveway. With so many new cars rolling out of dealerships lots and instantly becoming used cars, the secondary market is glutted and the pace of...

When shopping for a low-priced used car, three things will become evident: Some people want to swindle you. Few take proper care of their cars. The search will take a long time. Last summer, I set out to help my future son-in-law find transportation to his new teaching job near Kalamazoo, Michigan....

Thirty years ago this year, the Reagan administration required that all cars be outfitted with high-mounted brake lamps, or third brake lights. Starting with 1986 models, the aim of the Center High Mounted Stop Lamps mandate was to significantly slash the number of rear-end collisions and injuries...

Everyone remembers their first. It might have been good, it was more likely bad, but it is almost universally remembered with tenderness. A first car promises freedom, along with the burden of responsibility that comes with it. A first car is adulthood. Handing down the family truckster — resurrecting...

WORST AUTO RECALLS OF ALL TIME: Volkswagen, General Motors, Toyota, Takata — fiasco, debacle, scandal, cover-up — we’ve had 'em all in a record-setting run of recalls in recent years. The industry as a whole recalled a record-setting 50.99 million vehicles in 2014 (revised down from 63.5 million),...

Since 1998, there have been 680 deaths in the United States from adults leaving a young child in a hot vehicle. That is 37 deaths per year that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says are "100 percent preventable." The number appeared to be on the decline thanks in part to NHTSA's...

Only a few auto insurance companies currently offer discounts for new electronic safety devices such as autonomous emergency braking. But there are other ways you can save money on insurance: COMPARE COMPANIES: Get at least three quotes before you choose a company, and check every year or so to...

After hearing good things about the latest in crash-prevention technologies, you decided to add automatic emergency braking to your new car. The feature costs north of $2,000 on most vehicles. Yet even though data show it can prevent crashes, the discount from your insurer is likely to be zero....

If you're still changing your engine oil every 5,000 miles, or even 3,000 miles, then you may be just be flushing money. Most new vehicles sold today can go at least 7,500 miles between oil changes, and sometimes more than 10,000, says Mike Calkins, technical services director for the AAA travel...

Automatic braking will be standard in most cars and light trucks within six years and on heavier SUVs and pickup trucks within eight years under an agreement that transportation officials and automakers announced on Thursday. The voluntary agreement with 20 car manufacturers means that the important...

What is the right way to jump-start your car? Before we go into the details, we must give you the safety lecture because batteries can have the explosive potential of three sticks of dynamite! Wear eye protection whenever you work around a battery. And follow the sequence for connecting and disconnecting...

You skipped that second cup of coffee. You are running late. To make matters worse, your car won't start. Why? What can you do? No-starts fall into two basic categories: 1. The engine will not crank or cranks slowly 2. The engine cranks, but does not run No or low cranks Dead battery A dead battery...

The U.S. government and a group of 18 automakers said Friday they are committed to exploring new ways to improve automotive safety and expressed a willingness to share information and best practices about ways to track data and defects. The commitment comes on the heels of a two-year period of...

The semi started to roll half of its 18 wheels over the line into our lane. Normally, I might've sped up, slowed down, changed lanes, honked or cursed. This time, I did nothing but watch. I watched the steering wheel turn on its own, watched the Model S veer to the edge of our lane, watched as...

New cars that can steer and brake themselves risk lulling people in the driver's seat into a false sense of security — and even to sleep. One way to keep people alert may be providing distractions that are now illegal. That was one surprising finding when researchers put Stanford University students...

A couple of cybersecurity advocates set out recently to prove how dangerous an Internet-connected car can be. As an experiment, Andy Greenberg, a senior writer for Wired Magazine, agreed to drive a Jeep Cherokee on a St. Louis highway while so-called "altruistic hackers" toyed — sometimes dangerously...

We knew it was bad, but now Chicagoans can see how their driving conditions fare compared with those in other fair cities. Chicago ranked 93, or eighth-worst, for drivers out of the 100 most populated cities in the U.S., according to the Best and Worst Cities to be a Driver study by WalletHub,...

Aging baby boomers were supposed to bring a gray-haired danger to U.S. roads, with traffic safety experts predicting years ago that the number of deadly accidents involving older drivers would soar as boomers reached their golden years. "I remember people talking about 2015 being when we'd really...

The next big thing in parenting may be a smaller thing. The mifold "Grab-and-go" booster seat is ten times smaller than a backless booster seat, can fit in a backpack, glove box or pocket, and is dishwasher safe. "Boosters are not particularly big, but they're too big to have available at any time,"...

Takata auto parts company is at the center of the biggest auto recall in history. Approximately one in seven vehicles on U.S. roads have been affected by the recall of a faulty air bag inflator that can erupt and shoot metal shrapnel into the faces and chests of drivers and/or passengers. Nearly...

A technological breakthrough that could virtually eliminate the drunken driving that kills 10,000 Americans each year was announced Thursday by federal officials, who said it could begin appearing in cars in five years. The new equipment won't require a driver to blow into a tube, like the interlock...

A recall of air bags made by Japanese auto parts supplier Takata Corp. now has the dubious distinction of being the largest in U.S. history. The number of vehicles in the U.S. being recalled because of the defective air bags is doubling to 34 million, safety regulators said Tuesday. Here are some...

Under pressure from U.S. safety regulators, Takata Corp. has agreed to declare 33.8 million air bags defective, a move that will double the number of cars and trucks included in what is now the largest auto recall in U.S. history. The chemical that inflates the air bags can explode with too much...

You have just hit a pothole with enough force to shake the fillings from your teeth. Sure, it shook you up, but what about your car? Rough roads take a big toll on automobiles, especially the steering and suspension components. And it is not only potholes. Hitting curbs, blasting across rough railroad...

Chevrolet and Hyundai will become the first auto brands to offer customers the option of plugging either Google's Android Auto or Apple's CarPay into the touch screen of their vehicle. The decision, which General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced Wednesday afternoon in California, gives the technology...

For a glimpse of one of the auto world's thorniest modern dilemma, look no further than two contradictory TV ads for Infiniti's new Q50. In one, a narrator mocks the biggest trend in cars, self-driving technology, as boring and overbearing, taking "the wheel right from your very hands." In another,...

Its name is "Inspiration" and Daimler Trucks says it's the first ever self-driving semi-truck licensed to drive on public roads — in this case Nevada's highways — not only for testing, but business, too. Daimler Trucks North America LLC debuted the self-driving big rig Tuesday night with a drive...

Drivers want more collision-prevention technology in their cars, but there is a limit to how much they will pay. Blind spot detection, night vision and collision avoidance systems — which automatically apply the brakes if the driver doesn't react in time — are the top three technologies drivers...

Hitching a ride in a robotic car may cause motion sickness, according to a study from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. That’s because the very thing self-driving cars free people to do – text, read, watch videos and work – are the activities that make some individuals...

The automotive industry is entering a period of deep disruption that will make it unrecognizable, according to a new analysis from Morgan Stanley. “The auto industry is a century-old ecosystem being ogled by outside players hungry for a slice of a $10-trillion mobility market," warns Adam Jonas,...

Mercury. Pontiac. Saturn. Hummer. Suzuki. SAAB. All these names are now mere memories in the new car marketplace. But millions of their descendants are still on the road today, and these "orphan cars" can offer consumers an unusually strong used-car bargain. Orphan cars don't have the advertising...

When a deal goes south in the car business and a vehicle is repossessed, there is no winning, just degrees of losing. It starts with your mobility and credit rating, but it quickly snowballs from there to everyone else who has done business with you. As a remarketing rep for Capital One Auto Finance...

To say that motor oil is the lifeblood of your engine seems a bit hackneyed. It is truly like blood. The base oil, be it mineral or synthetic, is like blood plasma. It carries all of the other components through the lubrication system like blood through the vascular system. As motor oil circulates...

One of the most ambitious features of the Jeep Cherokee's rebirth in 2014 was its standard and highly technical nine-speed automatic transmission from ZF Friedrichshafen AG. In fact, one of the reasons Cars.com purchased the redesigned Cherokee as a long-term test car was to test this new unit...

In 2014, the automotive industry recalled over 60 million vehicles, doubling the previous record of 30.4 million in 2004. Yet, auto sales hit highs last seen in 2006 and experts have argued that vehicles have never been safer. Still, the majority of recalled vehicles have not been fixed.

Asian and European cars have taken top honors from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Winners in categories for small cars, midsize cars, luxury cars, SUVs and minivans included Acura, BMW, Honda, Infiniti, Lexus, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Toyota and Volvo. Oh, and Chrysler....

We've all heard the idea: In winter, your car needs a little time to warm up before you can drive it. And that's why across the United States, people who live in cold and snowy places and especially those whose cars have remote starters often fire up their engines long before they start driving....

Each day, attorney Terry Harris sets out in his trusty 2002 Honda Civic, which has 150,000 miles — and has been recalled for a variety of defects considered dangerous by safety regulators. Two are for air bags that can explode, sending shrapnel into the cabin. Another aims to fix a wiring problem...